Alma record. (Alma, Mich.) 1878-1928, 1887-11-18
MINING IN CHINA.

A Once Flouishing Industry Killed
by superstition.
A San Francisco letter to The NeD
I0rk HeraH says While the people
are wondering what to make of the
new Arabian n ghts Entertainment by
Count Won Mitklcwicz. a little expedl-
ton Is departing from this port which
may effect more for the Americaniza-
ton of China than the day dreams of
all the counts that have ever been
counted. Among the passengers who
sailed on the 2lst ult. in the City Of
Feking for Yokohama were Mr. A. NJ.
Ellsworth, a mining man of experience;
Arthur L. Roberts. assayer; Frank j.
Mel, machinst; Mark j. Lldstone.
millman; Mel Owen, mining foreman.
and Charles Taylor, prospector. All
these are in the service of the govern
ment OF China, engaged under special
contract to reopen and work the gold
and silver mines in the province of
Shan Tung.
To understand the new departure
it is necessary to go back long way.
Gold and silver mining was at one
time 6ourshing industry in China.
There is reason TO believe that the Chi
nese used gold coins at q period an
terror to the date of those Greek and
Parthian specimens which form the de-
light OF numismatists. They are said
TO have been cubes without inscr ptions.
However this may be, the art OF min
ing died out This was due to several
causes. In mining, as in other me-
chan cal pursuits, the Chinese reached
certain distance and no further.
They learned how to mine ore and
to separate mineral from rock. but
they never discovered how to pump
water out or fresh air into underground
workings. Hence, in all their mines.
there came a time when foul gases and
water drove out the miners.
Still more fatal to the mining industry
was the superstition Of the Feng Shin.
The Feng Shin were underground
demons who were quiet and we'll be-
haved enough 50 long as they were un-
molested in their subterranean abode.
but became troublesome and NAL gnant
if their rest were disturbed. 1t was
discovered that epdemics and famincs
followed the workings of certain mines,
and it was demonstrated without diff
Guilty that the visitation were due to the
justly irritated Feng Shin.
The controversy lasted some years.
as such things do in China. But it
ended in tho issue of an imperial re-
script absolutely prob biting the pro-
secution OF drift mining under penalty
Of death. This cdict is supposed to
have issued about century before the
discovery OF America by Columbus. II
has never been strictly enforced. Min
ing has always been prosecuted to
some extent in Shan ii Yunnan and
llonan. On the Yang tsc. Kang and
its continents. in the streams of SEE
Chuen. and throughout Mautchooria
gravel mining has always been followed
rs q business by portion of the people.
Allusions to the mineral output OF the
empire arc scattered through the works
of Pumpelly, Davis, De Carne. and
others. More recent writers, such as
Williams and Won R.chthofen, mention
the fact that the precious metals are
produced without entering into details.
Still, the disappearance OF gold and
the absence of gold currency show
that tho edict, though not strictly car
ried out had the desired effect Of put
ing stop to mining IS regular in
dustry. 1t is only within few years
that the Chinese government resolved
to reverse its policy in this respect
The frightful straits in which the en-
pire found tself during the French war
satisfied its leading men that China
could not hold its own in the family of
nations unless it provided itself with a
gold currency. 1t was resolved to re-
open the mines.
Gold, like coal, is found in every one
of the eighteen provinces of China.
But the largest and most accessible
source of supply is to be found in the
range of hills which deydes the loess
prairie of north central China from
the ocean slopes Those hills can be
traced from the shore of the Gulf of
Pectuli, in the province OF Shan lung
down into Quang Tung. 1t is quite
likely that they are M neral bearing
throughout. Mr.. Ellsworth told The
Herdid correspondent that Americans
could form no idea of the quantity of
gold in China; there was far more there
than here.
In former days, when the Chinese
mines were worked, one of the most
active mineral fields lay back of the
Che Foo, in the province of Shan
Tung. When Ii Hung Chang and
Prince Kung resolved in 1884 to resume
the working of the mines they selected